Page 9 of City of Louisville and a glimpse of Kentucky / Young Ewing Allison.

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In z886 the number of deaths was 2,8oo; in 1887 (year ending August 31), 2,862, an increase of but 62 in spite of
the unexampled drouthy summer, during which the temperature was higher than ever before known in the history of the
city.
Health Officer Galt, in analyzing the report for 1887, furnishes the number of deaths by months as follows:
August, i886...........216 March, I887... ...67
September, ............ 278 April, . . . 177
October, . ........ . . 211 May, .32.. . .1
November, . ......... 259 June, . . . ... ...... 303
December, ......... . . 232 July, ... ......2 ..... . 254
January, 1887 ......... 200
February . .. ...... .. . 244 Total ..... . . . . . . 2,862
"In i886 there were one hundred and seventeen deaths from typhoid fever, eighty-five from cholera infantum,
fifty-one from diphtheria, and nine from scarlet fever. Last year, notwithstanding the long and fearfully hot spell so
dangerous alike to old people, infants, and invalids, we had but one hundred and twenty-one from typhoid fever, one
hundred and four from cholera infantum, one hundred and nine from diphtheria, and but two from scarlet fever. Scarlet
fever is a common disease among children, and is often prevalent. No city in the United States of half the size of
Louisville can turn to the records and show less than two deaths in a vear from scarlet fever." The annual death-rate
of Louisville for i886 was 16., and in 1887 it is about 14.53.
The water supply of the city is obtained from the Ohio river at a point six miles above the wharf, the reservoirs being
WATER RKSEItRVO1R CKE5C1XNT HILL.
located on Crescent Hill, a beautiful property situae
three miles from the city. The W'ater Company, the stock
of which is possessed almost entirely by the city, own
several hundred acres of land adjoining, which will no doubt be converted into a park in a few years. The improve-
ments at the reservoir are of the most costly description, and the distribution of water is, in some instances, continued
outside the city limits. The growth of the water supply and its distribution since iSo, with the attachments, are given
as follows:
DATE. 7'l. OFi( 'iHFR OF
January, r, i88o. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108.84 7.012
Laid in r88o. . . . .. .. .............. 2-447 .223
i88t.. ............ . ..... . . 4-55 .441
1882 .2.512 .346
1883 .2.087 .437
1884. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.447 .531
i885. . .......... . ... .. ... .. 3.307 .438
1886.3.2................ . ... .. i 3-235 .535
Total to January i, 1887...... .... .... . 130.380 9.963
The increase in the supply of water furnished since 188o will also show the great growth in population necessary to
use it. There is no more complete and admirable system of water-works in the United States than that in Louisville,
which has a capacity of io,oooooo gallons daily, and two subsiding reservoirs with a capacity of 125,000,000 gallons.
The enormous consumption and supply in gallons since 1880 is as follows:
88..2,304,o3g,675 1883......... .. . 2,936,801,700
i88i... .. ..... . 2,931,438,825 1884 ..... .. . . . . . 3,25 1,43,875
1882. . . . . . . . . . . . 2,616,882,450 I885 . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,540,907,125
The water-works, being almost entirely owned by the city, furnish all water used by the city free of cost. This
includes fire-cisterns, fire-hydrants, city hall, court-house, engine-houses, station-houses, hospitals, public fountains, etc.
The cost of the water thus furnished free is about 25,000 per year
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